Posted on 10/08/2002 11:34:37 AM PDT by SLB
This will be one of those articles our enemies will try to pick apart in order to make the accusation that the author actually condones what is happening around the nation's capital. It's expected, since it's one of the few ways the left knows how to deal with such a dilemma. Fact is: There have been at least 11 shootings, with 5 confirmed fatalities so far in the Washington DC area. Since despite all the police chest pounding, they probably won't find a suspect by the time this is article is published, there will probably be more.
In our new War on Terrorism, none dare call it that. So let's call it what it really is - war, and deal with it on those terms.
This of course, will make the spin meisters even more upset, since nothing - absolutely nothing since September 11, 2001 will be called terrorism. Not the American Airlines flight over New York City a year ago, not the string of oil refinery explosions, unexplained train derailments, not the nutcases attacking Greyhound bus drivers, and heaven forbid - that Anthrax thing was an anomaly, just like the West Nile Virus and the new cases of malaria popping up in the same area of the shooting. Just individual crazed lunatics mind you, not terrorism.
Meanwhile, the war continues.
If it hasn't dawned on you that this is an actual war in progress on our own soil (don't worry - it's not terrorism unless we tell you), take a look at the affect one lone sniper has had on the social infrastructure of the DC suburbs:
MARYLAND: Anne Arundel County Schools: . All schools locked . After-school activities canceled . After-school childcare will be provided . No evening high school classes . Indoor recess and activities
Baltimore City Schools: . No afternoon pre-kindergarten . No outdoor after-school athletic events; indoor events will be held
Calvert County Schools: . Students being kept inside schools . No after-school activities
Charles County Schools: . Heightened security . Students kept indoors . After-school activities canceled . Tuesday field trips canceled
Frederick County Schools: . Lockdown status . No students allowed outside
Howard County Schools: . Modified lockdown status . No afternoon kindergarten or special education . No outdoor recess or activities
Montgomery County Schools: . Code Blue status . No afternoon pre-k or kindergarten . Extra security in schools . All field trips canceled . Indoor recess and lunch . All after-school activities canceled
Prince George's County Schools: . Code Blue status . All outdoor activities canceled . Indoor recess and lunch . No outdoor after-school activities . No afternoon pre-kindergarten . All school doors monitored by security . Increased police presence in schools
Queen Anne's County Schools: . No after-school activities
DISTRICT: D.C. Schools: . No outdoor lunch or recess . No outdoor after-school activities . All field trips canceled
Archdiocese of Washington Schools: . No outdoor lunch or recess . No afternoon kindergarten or activities . Aftercare will be provided
VIRGINIA: Alexandria City Schools: . No outdoor recess or physical education classes . After-school activities canceled . Increased police presence for dismissals
Arlington County Schools: . All outdoor after-school activities canceled . Indoor after-school activities will be held
Caroline County Schools: . Outdoor activities canceled
Fairfax County Schools: . No outdoor activities
Falls Church City Schools: . Outdoor activities canceled . Police officers at each school
Fredericksburg City Schools: . Lockdown status . No after-school activities
King George County Schools: . Lockdown status
Loudoun County Schools: . Heightened state of alert . Outdoor activities at each principal's discretion
Manassas City Schools: . Limited lockdown status . No outdoor recess or activities
Prince William County Schools: . No outdoor after-school activities Monday or Tuesday
Spotsylvania County Schools: . Outdoor activities canceled
Stafford County Schools: . Outdoor activities canceled
Not bad for eleven rounds. Anyone want to take a guess how many of these students are children of federal employees? Now, let your brain spin. Here's a federal government planning for war, importing and exporting no goods on its western flank, and with a market in a steady freefall, and yet to even submit a budget this fiscal year. But none of that will be on their minds when they wake up - only: who's next?
Just like September 11 - brilliant war tactics. Then again, as any sniper can tell you, psychological terror is a bi-product of this time-tested, lethal art. The only thing America has going for it right now is that there is only one. Surely the profilers are trying to figure out some way of saying this lone gunman is some nut - some crazy white guy that gets a monthly high from reading Soldier of Fortune, probably hates the New World Order, and is of course, a believer in the Second Amendment, Turner Diaries, etc.. This profile (soon to come, I'm sure) will give some antigun nuts a second wind, attempting to get more gun legislation passed.
C'mon - you know this is coming, don't you?
Lest we forget that the state of Maryland already has some of the most draconian gun laws in the nation. And no gun law will slow down this sniper. In fact, only the opposite is true.
We're dealing with a professional, someone who is becoming pretty good at one shot - one kill. This person is not firing several shots at random, and is deadly accurate. Our shooter knows how to take the shot, then relocate. Some amateur could not be this skilled working behind enemy lines, if you will and, knowing there is a dragnet out there, still hit his mark at least 10 times. According to authorities, there is no common pattern with the victims that are being chosen. So if we said the only thing the victims do have in common is that none are Muslim, that would be a stretch, wouldn't it?
If what many people fear turns out to be the case ("sniper jihad"), catching this critter may be difficult, and a few more may have to die to get a bead on this SOB. Not being a sniper expert, I'd say it will take all we have inside us if and when the next round is fired. But I recall something about hitting the ground, and get a good look in the direction where you heard the sound. If it were a war zone, the next line would be lay down cover fire, and fire teams should keep their 'field of fire' in mind, but we don't want to turn the Washington Suburbs into Washington, DC, now would we?
Our little sniper is operating in an enemy environment, but he is also operating in a relatively 'safe' environment. You see, the fact that we really are at war is a concept too many people haven't taken seriously yet, especially in east coast, antigun bastions such as suburban DC. Hence, only time will tell when suddenly concealed carry laws are lifted (or simply not enforced), so that the soldiers in this new war (the citizens), may have the means of neuturalizing such threats upon discovery.
Go ahead. Call me extreme. But attending all those funerals will get old real fast. Legislators can pass all the laws they want, but no police chief or sheriff wants to spend the rest of is time in office counting innocent bodies. I'd suggest the local police make a few inquires to the Pentagon on how to deal with this problem, not the FBI or ATF. No, I'm not calling for military intervention, but gathering background information on someone that clearly has a military background.
To put it bluntly, we've have a region of the country on the verge of societal shut down. The pundits prefer calling this a lone nut than dealing with the obvious.
This person is not a 'right-wing' lunatic. This person is not a terrorist. This is a solider - waging war on our own soil.
By Amit Baruah
ISLAMABAD, FEB. 5. The Lashkar-e-Taiba chief, Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, today said he was `very happy' that the Pakistani Chief Executive, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, had declared that `jehad was not terrorism,' but warned the General not to interfere with Islamic madrassas where `jehad' and not terrorism was taught.
He said Gen. Musharraf was the first Pakistani ruler to have made such a distinction between `jehad and terrorism', a point that was made before him by Mr. Hamid Mir, Editor of the Urdu daily, Ausaf.
Both Saeed and the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen chief, Fazlur Rehman Khalil, made vicious anti-India and anti-U.S. speeches during a `jehadi rally' organised by the Lashkar at the Aabpara Chowk in the heart of Islamabad to express solidarity with the `Kashmiri people'.
Saeed also declared that the Pakistani mujahideen groups operating in Kashmir would not tolerate any `ban' on their activities as demanded by the U.S. in return for a visit by the American President, Mr. Bill Clinton.
``Clinton, you are welcome to visit without conditions, but don't come, you will not be welcome if you force these conditions on Pakistan,'' the Lashkar chief told a gathering of a few thousand supporters.
In his speech, Fazlur Rehman Khalil said that the U.S. and other Western countries had labelled them as `terrorists' for fighting a `jehad' in Kashmir. He wondered what their reaction would be if a `global jehad' was launched. ``You call us terrorists when we fight for our own Muslims (Kashmiris being Pakistanis for Khalil),'' he remarked.
Like Saeed, Khalil stated that the CTBT was not a political issue, but a religious one. ``Not adhering to the CTBT is Allah's order. Nuclear power is our shariat. If the U.S. asks us to sign the CTBT, it is interference in our religious affairs,'' he maintained.
In a clear warning to the Musharraf Government, Khalil stated that the mujahideen would not tolerate any ``sabotage'' of Pakistan's nuclear capability. If this were to happen, then the mujahideen would ``sabotage'' the Government, Khalil maintained.
Referring to American concerns, Hafiz Saeed said U.S. diplomats behaved like ``viceroys'' in Pakistan. ``They want Governments to pander to their every whim,'' he said, lampooning the diplomats.
He challenged the U.S. to take its case against terrorism relating to Islamic outfits to any court in the world. ``We will prove that you (the U.S.) are terrorists. We are prepared to face you in any court of law,'' the Lashkar chief said. Saeed wanted to know which ``court of law'' had banned the Harkat-ul- Mujahideen. ``Is this justice,'' he asked.
He said that the mujahideen did not expect anything from the U.S. and maintained that Mr. Clinton was visiting India despite its ``State terrorism'' in Kashmir.
He said that U.S. had let Pakistan down in 1971; an action that transformed East Pakistan into Bangladesh. ``No American decisions will be acceptable. All decisions will be taken by jehad,'' he maintained.
Saeed urged the Pakistani leadership to conduct one more, powerful nuclear test which would bring the U.S. and the rest of the world to its senses. ``Our problems will be solved by this test,'' he claimed.
Describing Kargil as the `first round' in the jehad against India, Saeed said the post-Kargil ``fidayeen attacks'' on Indian military camps constituted the `second round' of `jehadi attacks' by the Lashkar mujahideen. ``Very soon, we will be starting the third round,'' he warned.
Another Lashkar functionary, Abdul Rehman Makki, claimed that the Lashkar had a ``network'' in Hyderabad which would become active in the next six months. ``They will be making a declaration of separation,'' Makki claimed.
Lashkar volunteers distributed leaflets at the rally asking households to send a `brother or son' for the cause of `jehad'. They also gave addresses in Islamabad and Rawalpindi where `military training' to participate in jehad could be acquired.
Formerly the Harkat-ul-Ansar, which was designated a foreign terrorist organisation in October 1997. HUM is an Islamic militant group based in Pakistan that operates primarily in Kashmir. Leader Fazlur Rehman Khalil has been linked to bin Laden and signed his fatwa in February 1998 calling for attacks on US and Western interests. Operates terrorist training camps in Eastern Afghanistan and suffered casualties in the US missile strikes on Bin Laden-associated training camps in Khowst in August 1998. Fazlur Rehman Khalil subsequently said that HUM would take revenge on the United States.
Going prone and using a handgun one can hit a human sized target out to 100 yards. Several of the shots have been at about 100 yards distance.Thank you Harpseal!!! I made a similar statement on a related thread and couldn't believe the flak I got.
.223s in M16 type rifles have won 1000 yard service rifle matches using 80ish grain bullets.No offense intended but a .223 at a mere 500 yards only has about 200 ft-pds of energy left... sure at 1000 yards it will break paper and wreck havoc on a prairie dog but it is not quite the best choice for long range sniping at human sized targets.
I just checked Winchester's website, and their .308Win ammo (non-match grade) varies between 2,620 and 2,900 fps. Their .223Rem ammo is between 3,020 and 3,700 fps.
Ten witnesses in ten places will point to ten different places they think they heard the shot come from due to echo and mistaking sonic crack for muzzle blast.
Anyway, the shooting is the easy part of his task, finding good shooting spots and escape routes is the more important and difficult skill.
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